Prestigious Award from European Research Council for Biologist at Freie Universität Berlin

Prestigious Award from European Research Council for Biologist at Freie Universität Berlin

Prof. Dr. Jens Rolff Wins Funding for Work on Device for Detection of Antibiotic Resistance

№ 141/2017 from May 31, 2017

Professor Dr. Jens Rolff from the Institute of Biology at Freie Universität Berlin has been awarded funding from the European Research Council (ERC) for the development of a device for predicting antibiotic resistance. He was granted a prestigious Proof of Concept Grant endowed with 150,000 euros from the ERC for his EVOLchip project. This funding format is used to bring outstanding basic research to commercial use.

Antibiotic resistance is a serious problem worldwide, and unfortunately, the occurrence of resistance is unpredictable. In the EVOLchip project, a procedure is being developed with which new treatment strategies would be able to predict the likelihood of a developing antibiotic resistance within a few weeks. The method could also be used to assess how quickly resistance to new antibiotics can occur. Engineers at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin are also involved in the design of the EVOLchip device.

The European Research Foundation supports top-quality research. The Proof of Concept Grant is only available to researchers who have already received project funding from the European Research Council. The support for the EVOLchip project is a follow-up to the ERC-funded EVORESIN project, in which a team of scientists led by Jens Rolff investigated antimicrobial peptides. These natural antibiotics, which are mainly produced by animals and plants, are currently being investigated with regard to their potential use against bacterial diseases.